[Child sex abuse: pretext to a return of sexual repression]

This article is based on observations and thoughts during intensive psychotherapeutic work with 997 sexually abused children and their parents after they had been reported to the Confidential Doctor Center Kind in Nood of the VUB (between 1986 and 1994). Without denying the existence of sexual abuse of children, it is important not to exaggerate this phenomena, which can be described as the Child Sexual Abuse Panic Syndrome. Doing this only gives way to denial and indignation or scandalization and revenge, and certainly does not lead to a clear analysis of the problem. Accurate observation enables some existing myths to become unravelled: abusive fathers are seldom power robots, mothers are not always warm-hearted, innocent creatures and children are not black boxes without feeling and sexual desires. The underlying message is about the bitter fight against modernization of sexuality, which seems again experienced as dangerous. However it is fear for a free, adult sexuality that is at the core of sexual exploitation of children, which should encourage caution in professional answers to this delicate issue.